Scott Baugh, former chair of the Republican Party of Orange County, has raised $500,000 toward a future bid for the congressional seat of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.

Although Rohrabacher told the Register he hasn’t ruled out a 2018 reelection bid, Baugh said he started fundraising in January because Rohrabacher told him he would step down by 2018 at the latest.

“Dana has said to me that he wasn’t looking to run in 2018 and he was looking to leave sooner with a presidential appointment,” said Baugh, who has a 20-year friendship with the incumbent. “I can’t self-fund so I’m looking to hit the ground running.“

Rohrabacher, a friend and supporter of presidential candidate Ted Cruz, has said publicly that he would consider stepping down if offered a "top-level" post in the next administration. Otherwise, he’s keeping his options open, he said Thursday.

“I hope Scott’s planning for something else because I might not be leaving,” the Republican said. “I’m open to what the best alternative might be. It could be running for reelection or it could be serving in the next administration.“

Rohrabacher, 68, is in his 14th two-year term and is expected to easily win reelection this year in the heavily GOP district, which extends from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach and reaches inland to include Costa Mesa, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo and parts of Little Saigon. Rohrabacher won 64 percent of the vote in the 2014 general election.

Among California’s 53 House members, only Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, has served longer than Rohrabacher.

Baugh, 53, declined to say whether he would challenge Rohrabacher if the incumbent sought another term in 2018.

“I’m not going to engage in speculation,” he said.

While Rohrabacher hasn’t endorsed him, Baugh says the incumbent gave him his blessing to raise money and prepare to campaign. Rohrabacher didn’t dispute that, but the only current exit strategy he cited was a presidential appointment.

If Rohrabacher received such an appointment early in his next term, a special election would be held to fill the vacancy.

The sum raised by Baugh, detailed on disclosure forms due Friday to the Federal Election Commission, sets the bar high for other prospective candidates. At least one of those possible candidates, Republican county Supervisor Michelle Steel, has shown she has the ability to both raise large sums and fund her own campaign.

“There are a lot of potential self-funders in this district, and I’m just catching up to where they would be when they enter the race,” Baugh said of his early fundraising efforts. “I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support.“

But with the plans of both Rohrabacher and Steel cloudy, it’s unclear what lies ahead in Baugh’s pursuit of a House seat.

Neither Steel nor her husband, former state GOP Chairman Shawn Steel, returned calls for comment. Rohrabacher is good friends with the Steels.

Like Baugh, GOP insider Jon Fleischman recounted Rohrabacher saying he planned to make this year’s run his last reelection campaign.

“He did not foresee seeking re-election in 2018, noting that 30 years in Congress was a long time for anyone to serve,” Fleischman wrote on his conservative Flash Report website Thursday.

Fleischman, a former executive director of the state GOP, is friends with Baugh and Rohrabacher and helped run Steel’s supervisor campaign.

Baugh served in the state Assembly from 1995 to 2000, including 11/2 years as GOP leader. The lawyer and businessman was county GOP chairman from 2004 to 2014.

His fundraising disclosures for the first quarter of 2016 show the vast majority of money came from Orange County residents, including many top political and business figures. They include Fleischman, state Sen. John Moorlach, former state Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, Orange County Business Council CEO Lucy Dunn, developer Michael Harrah and former Irvine Co. Executive Vice President Gary Hunt.

Baugh said the money was raised without holding events or fundraisers and that he is continuing to aggressively build a war chest.

If he runs against the incumbent, whom he’s long supported, he’d need the money to overcome Rohrabacher’s advantage of incumbency. If he runs against Steel, he’ll likely need the money to keep pace.

In her 2014 race for a vacant county supervisor’s seat, Steel raised $762,000 and lent her campaign $300,000. She dominated the four-person June election with 48 percent of the vote and beat Assemblyman Allan Mansoor in the runoff, 62 percent to 38 percent. Mansoor raised $171,000.

Steel’s previous experience in elected office was serving on the state Board of Equalization from 2007 until she took her Board of Supervisors’ seat in January 2015.

Republican insiders have been talking since at least 2014 about the possibility of Steel, 60, running for Congress. Baugh and Fleischman are among those who’ve been privy to such conversations.

“I know that she’s expressed an interest and Dana’s told me because they are longtime friends, he would endorse her,” Baugh said. “Just because he gave me his blessing doesn’t mean he’ll endorse me.”

Rohrabacher, who spoke in glowing terms about both Baugh and Steel, said he’s not made plans to endorse anybody yet.

“I don’t even know if I’ll be leaving,” he said. “How can I endorse someone?”

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